ikenbot:Big Solar Storm Packs Small Punch, But Not Over Yet Image Above: NASA’s SDO spacecra
ikenbot: Big Solar Storm Packs Small Punch, But Not Over Yet Image Above: NASA’s SDO spacecraft caught this image of another X-class solar flare on March 7, 2012. SDO researchers reported on their website: “At 00:28 UTC this morning we saw another X-class flare from active region 11429.” This picture shows the two ribbons of this X5.4 flare in 1700 angstrom light (ultraviolet). Credit: NASA/SDO A powerful solar storm that slammed into Earth today (March 8) triggered weaker-than-expected disruptions, but may still have a few more tricks up its sleeve, scientists say. “We’re probably not going to see much more from this storm, but I don’t know if we can say it’s quite over yet,” said C. Alex Young, a solar physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “It might pick up a little bit, but we’re not completely certain yet. We still have a bit of time to see if anything else is going to happen.” Two huge X-class solar flares (the most powerful type of sun storm) erupted from the sun late Tuesday (March 6), hurling a wave of plasma and energetic particles toward Earth. This blast, called a coronal mass ejection, reached Earth at around 5:45 a.m. EST (1045 GMT) this morning, according to officials at the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is jointly managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service. Early forecasts showed that the oncoming CME could boost solar radiation in space and trigger geomagnetic storms on Earth, potentially disrupting satellites, power grids and other electronic infrastructure. -- source link